


got no use for moonlight

by jdphoenix



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Gen, Humor, Minor Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt, One-Sided Attraction, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 13:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17829617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdphoenix/pseuds/jdphoenix
Summary: After an accident and a few days in a healing pod, Pidge comes out looking a little different. Lance takes notice.





	got no use for moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> Is this how healing pods work? Does anyone care?
> 
> Title from "I Never Planned On You" from Newsies.
> 
> Set pre 3x05 "The Journey" because that's as far as I've watched as of writing this.

After two long days, the healing pod finally opens. It’s been fogged up since day one (“because of the ice crystals trapped in her hair!” Coran said like anyone cared) and Lance, despite his efforts to keep his cool for the rest of the team’s sake, is just as worried as everyone else. Sure, the readouts _say_ Pidge is recovering just fine in there, but when you can’t actually _see_ your teammate, it’s a little worrisome, okay?

“Like I said, she’s fine,” he says, while subtly angling his head to get a look at her as soon as is physically possible. Which turns out to be a bad idea because a second later he’s frozen like that. “What the-”

“Ohhhhh!” Allura squeals and even the mice on her shoulder squeak like they’re excited too.

“Hey, guys,” Pidge says around a yawn. “What’d I miss?” She waves a hand, not really focusing on any of them until Keith appears at the door with her glasses. “Thanks!”

“Do you remember what happened?” he asks.

“Lotor threw a comet at Green? Not _the_ comet, but _a_ comet- Wait! Green! Is she okay?”

“Your lion’s fine,” Coran assures her. “You’re the one who nearly froze to death.”

“But I’m fine now, right? Can I go see her? And why is everyone staring?”

It’s not everyone, Lance thinks. Keith and Coran are acting like everything’s normal and Hunk’s giving Pidge a hug and promising her a five course meal to make up for the days she’s been living off the pod’s juices or whatever. Which is insane because _do they not see what Lance is seeing?_

“I’m sorry,” Allura says in that charming princess way of hers. With Hunk gone, she’s swept in to take Pidge’s hand in a grip that looks deceptively gentle, even from Lance’s angle. Still awkward, by the way. He’s not sure he’s ever gonna be able to untwist his neck. “I was just surprised. It seems the pod did a little more than just heal you.”

“Really?” Pidge looks down at herself. “What’d it do?” She twists all around to examine herself, brushing her hair out of the way when it falls in her face.

“Uh, Pidge?” Keith stops her by lifting up one of the long, silky locks.

For a genius, it really takes Pidge a lot longer than it should. “Ohhhhh. It made my hair grow. Cool! Wonder why it didn’t do my nails too.”

“I’m afraid that’s my fault,” Coran says. “We were in such a rush to get you in, I failed to calibrate the pod properly for humans. My bad.”

“No, it’s fine. Not like I can’t cut it.”

Allura makes a high-pitched sound that Lance (and, he’s guessing from his expression, Coran too) has never heard from her before. The surprise of hearing it is enough to unstick his neck, so that’s nice at least.

“Are you sure?” she asks, reaching out to fiddle with the ends of the lock of hair Keith left hanging over Pidge’s shoulder. “I mean, it suits you quite nicely and you might get used to it.”

“Oh, I know I will. I used to wear it long all the time, back before I pretended to be a boy so I could get onto the base and find out what happened to Matt. But with the helmets…”

“I have long hair!” Allura says like they don’t all know it. “I could show you how to tie it back so it won’t be a knot at the back of the helmet and- and how to style it to keep it out of your eyes while you work and-”

Pidge lifts her eyebrows. They disappear behind her flowing bangs. “You just wanna play with it, don’t you?”

“Oh yes, please! I haven’t had anyone’s hair but mine to play with for _ages_.”

“All right, fine. But can we do it in the hangar? I wanna see Green.”

“Of course!”

The girls head off to do their girly things. Coran’s already fiddling with the pod, trying to fix whatever he did before. Keith gives a very Keith-ish shrug and walks out, probably to go practice his brooding face in the mirror. And Lance is left standing there, wondering how no one else is struggling with a world turned upside-down.

 _Pidge_ is a _girl_.

 

~~~~~

 

It’s not like Lance didn’t _know_. Everyone knew. Ever since their first days out here as Paladins. Sure, their teeny tiny, guy friend Pidge turned out to be a normal sized girl Pidge. Whatever. These things happen. It’s a lot less weird than finding out Keith has been a freaking _Galra_ this whole time.

But now? With the hair? It’s like … Pidge is a _girl_ , you know?

Lance spins in his spinny chair to face Kaltenecker. “You know?” he presses.

The cow only goes on chewing its space grass.

“Yeah, you get me.” He pats its head.

“What are you doing?”

Lance spins in his chair again, this time to face Keith, who’s leaning against the door like he’s part of it or something. Such a drama queen.

“Just pouring my heart out to Kaltenecker, here. She’s not a great conversationalist, but she’s the best listener on the ship.”

“What about your lion?”

“Ehhhh,” Lance says. “I could talk to Blue. But now I’m flying Red and we just don’t have that kind of relationship yet, you know?”

He should; he _is_ flying Black now. But he doesn’t. Or he’s just being typical Keith and refusing to give anything away, even a simple answer to a simple question. Why is Lance not surprised?

But Keith’s also been making an effort with this whole leader thing and Lance can literally _see_ the struggle on his face while he gears himself up to ask, “What did you need to talk about?”

“Oh, you know, guy stuff: Lotor always staying one step ahead of us, whether I should ask Pidge on a date, that kinda thing.”

That gets Keith to finally disconnect from the door. “Wait. _What?_ ”

“Yeah, you know how he lured us into that trap? Not that I’m blaming you, even though it was your fault. It’s just weird though. Zarkon was always about the Black Lion but his kid is-”

“Not that! You wanna ask Pidge out?” Keith’s standing over him now, in this way that’s kinda loomy. Does the guy have no sense of personal boundaries?

Lance rolls his eyes at himself. Of _course_ he doesn’t. This is Keith he’s talking about here.

“Maybe?” he says. “I dunno. Can’t say it’s been easy getting a date out here what with the castle always moving, but if she lived _in_ the castle…” That was always the allure with Allura (heh, Lance sees what he did there). Other than the princess thing. And the her being super hot thing.

Keith doesn’t say anything for a few ticks, giving Lance time to notice the weird way his jaw is moving on one side.

“Hey. Did you know your face is doing this thing? Maybe you should have Coran take a look? Spend some time in one of the healing pods yourse-ahhh!”

Keith drags him out of the chair and Lance has to scramble to get his feet under him before they hit the step up to the door. “Come on!” he orders in what Lance is starting to identify as his leader voice. “Time for training.”

“What? But we just had training this morning!”

“And you obviously have time for more.” He shoves Lance away once they reach the hall. “Five laps around the castle.”

“ _Five?!_ That’s like-” Lance does some quick calculations- “a _lot_ of miles!”

“I know.” Keith’s got his arms up at his sides, already jogging in place. “Let’s get moving.”

He doesn’t give Lance another chance to argue. (Not that he doesn’t do a whole lot of manly whining along the way.)

 

~~~~~

 

“Owwww,” Lance says. After all that running, just sitting down for breakfast the next day is painful.

“Are you all right, Lance?” Allura asks.

The concern is greatly appreciated and Lance opens his mouth to tell her just that, but he’s so sore and so slow that Keith beats him to it.

“He’s fine. We’re just working on a new training regimen.”

“Oh, really?” Coran asks. “That’s an excellent idea! Gotta keep your strength up if we’re to defeat Lotor. If you boys would like, I have an exercise video that might be right up your alley.”

Remembering Hunk’s stories about Coran’s instructional video on the Weblum, Lance tries to protest but all he manages is a whine before Keith can say that they just might take him up on it. Joy.

At least his arms are still working fine. Lance wastes no time digging into the meal Hunk puts before him. To be honest, that’s half ravenous hunger and half self-preservation; if he waits too long, Hunk’ll describe what he put in this morning’s breakfast and Lance just might lose his appetite. It’s really hit or miss when you’re eating food found in the depths of space.

Just as he’s finishing up, Pidge finally makes an appearance. Looks like Allura convinced her to keep the long hair because she’s sleepily unbraiding it while she sits down.

“Sorry I’m late,” she says around a yawn. “Don’t know why I was so sleepy after I spent so much time sleeping the last few days.”

“That’s quite all right, Pidge.,” Allura says. “Your body needs time to adjust.”

“Yeah, I know. Still seems counterintiutive though.”

Hunk sends a floating plate sailing gently down the table to her. It’s piled high with food because, apparently, all the food he made her last night wasn’t enough to take the edge off his worry. (Not that Lance knows how much food Pidge ate last night. He was so tired from his run with Keith, he fell asleep in a hall halfway to his room and has only a dreamy memory of waking up in the middle of the night and wandering the rest of the way to his bed.)

He leans over in his chair, closer to Pidge’s. “So, Pidge.”

She’s got one of Hunk’s rolls half in her mouth and hums a response around it.

“Now that you’re up, I was thinking maybe we could spend some time today working together. Being one of Voltron’s arms is way different from being a leg, I could use some pointers.”

Pidge swallows loudly. “Um. Sure? Unless we have a mission?”

“We don’t,” Keith says, standing. “But Lance and I have training to do.”

“What? Again?” He glances at Pidge. “ _Now?_ ” He was hoping for at least a little time alone with her this morning.

“Yes, now. Move.”

That tone doesn’t allow for any argument but no way is Lance gonna let _Keith_ bully him. “I just ate,” he says. If he runs now, he’ll throw up for sure.

“That’s why we’ll be doing strength training before our run. Let’s go.”

Keith grabs Lance by his jacket before he can come up with another argument and, since no one else pipes up in his defense, it’s off to weight lifting for him. Whoopie.

 

~~~~~

 

Two days later, Lance has _finally_ gotten some time away. Every inch of him is sore from training with Keith. Inches he didn’t even know he _had_ are sore! But that’s okay because he and Pidge have a date—not a for real date (yet), just a date to run drills with their lions.

He’s early to the hangar, half to hide from Keith and half so he has some alone time with Red beforehand; gotta make sure the lion makes him look good out there. When he hears the door open behind him, he turns with a smile, thinking it’s Pidge come to iron out their plans before they head out.

It’s not Pidge.

“No!” Lance yells before Keith can do more than open his mouth to order him out of his spacesuit for more training. Just to emphasize how much he will _not_ be running around the castle or lifting weights or whatever new tortures Keith has planned, he’s got his arms and legs wrapped tight around Red’s leg. (Maybe not the wisest move, since Red was Keith’s first, but it’s the only move he’s got short of running screaming out of the hangar.) “No more! I can’t train anymore, Keith. I will literally _die_. Do you _want_ me to die?”

Keith opens his mouth again.

“You do!” Lance yells, unwinding one arm from Red’s leg to point an accusing finger at him. “You’re trying to kill me because Red chose me and you’re jealous!”

“I am not trying to kill you!” Keith yells back.

“Then what is it? Is this some kind of weird hazing?”

“No!”

“Then what!”

“I’m just trying to make you a better fighter! You wanted that, right?”

“Of course I do!” Being Paladins is fun and all (when you ignore the nearly dying all the time), but they all wanna go back home and the fastest way to accomplish that is winning this war. “But why aren’t you picking on any of the others then?”

“Because the others all have stuff to _do_. You’re just wasting time with Pidge.”

“I haven’t been doing _anything_ with Pidge because you’ve had me training night and day ever since she woke up! And I’m about to go out _training_ with her, so if you’ll excuse me…” He drops down from the lion’s leg, chin held high and proud.

“Pidge isn’t coming. She and Hunk are gonna work on some malfunctions he’s been seeing in the kitchens.”

Maybe it’s just the breastplate of the lion right in front of him, but Lance sees red. He whirls, too angry to be scared. “How is that more important than training?”

“We need to eat,” Keith says, calm and steady like he’s Shiro or something.

“You- you are-” Lance is so mad his brain can’t even come up with any of those really good curse words he saves for situations like this. “You are a complete _doo-doo head!_ ”

For some reason, that really seems to hit Keith hard.

(Note to self: Keith is weak to childish insults.)

“And _you_ are an _idiot_!” he yells right back. “You think I’m trying to kill you? Well, if that’s what it takes to get you so exhausted you stop chasing after Pidge, so be it!”

“Wait. What?” Lance’s brain whirls. Despite what some people ( _cough_ Allura _cough_ ) might think, he’s not dumb. He may not be a tech wizard like Pidge or a tactical genius like Shiro, but he’s got something just as important. Lance has got _relationship smarts_. And all of a sudden a whole lot of things start to make more sense. “Ohhhh. You  _are_ jealous. You like Pidge.”

Keith rolls his eyes like it’s the most ridiculous thing in the world. Lance thinks the Paladin doth protest too much.

“It was one thing,” Keith says, “when you were just making moves on Allura. She’s a princess, she’s used to that kind of thing. But Pidge has been palling around with us the last few months and before that she was pretending to be a boy. She’s not used to your kind of attention. And after all this team has been through, the last thing it needs is you screwing up team dynamics by messing with her heart.”

Yeah, that’s fair. Lance can see that. But he left the whole _flirting with Pidge_ angle behind like five steps ago. They are waaaaaay past that now.

“You like Pidge,” he says again and smiles at the red that crawls up Keith’s throat.

He fists his hands, stands stiff like he’s holding back from throwing a punch. All classic signs. Oh, Keith. So obvious. Lance is honestly ashamed he didn’t notice it sooner.

“We _all_ like Pidge,” Keith growls. “That’s the _point_.”

“Uh huh. But you _like-_ like her.”

Keith hisses in a breath—either to yell at him or to throw that punch, Lance can’t be sure—but whatever it is, he’s stopped when Red drops his head down to their level. Even though Lance is Red’s pilot now, he’s not let in on whatever passes between him and Keith. The lion must make his point though, because Keith unclenches his fists and his shoulders loosen.

Good thing. Lance is still way too sore to have put up any sort of defense if this had turned into a fight.

“Okay, fine. I like Pidge.”

Lance opens his mouth-

“I _like_ -like her,” Keith corrects quickly. “Maybe. I dunno. But we’re in the middle of a war here, I’m not about to risk everything just to find out. That’s not fair to her or the universe. Which is why you and I are gonna go run some laps.”

“Uh, no.” Lance points his index fingers at him. “If you wanna work out this whole Pidge obsession you’ve got going by exercising yourself to death, that’s a you problem.”

Keith tenses up again. “Did you hear _anything_ I just said?”

“Yeah. You’re in love with Pidge.”

“I am _not_ -”

“So if you wanna make a move, that’s all you. If you don’t, that’s you too. I’ll back off. But if that’s all the training’s been about, then I’m out.”

Keith blinks, shocked. Lance doesn’t know _why_. It’s not like he’s said anything so strange. “Wait. Really?”

“Yeah. I know we don’t always get along, but the bro code is very clear here. I wasn’t all that into Pidge anyway and you liked her first. She’s all yours.”

“She’s not _anybody’s_ , that’s the _point-_ ”

“Yeah, yeah.” Lance waves his protests off. And, feeling abundantly generous after their little share session adds, “Hey, since I’m not gonna be flirting with Pidge anymore and _someone_ clearly needs a distraction from her, you wanna do some drills in the lions? Give me some pointers on how to work with Red?”

Keith’s all set to protest again. It’s right there on his stupid, hopelessly-in-love face. But he drops it with a sigh and says, “Sure.”

 

~~~~~

 

A half a varga later, when Lance is just getting the hang of the maneuverability in Red, he breaks into their running conversation on Red’s readouts to say, “The long hair looks cute on her, right?”

From Black Lion, Keith groans. “I kinda hate Allura for convincing her not to cut it.”

Lance laughs. He definitely likes crushing Keith way more than annoying leader Keith. Maybe, if he’s lucky, the one will make the other less of a pain in the butt.

“Enough girl talk,” Keith snaps, “get back to those agility drills.”

Orrrr not.

 


End file.
